Collapsible cone dispensers



Jan. 21, 1964 A. CHAPPORY 3,118,565

COLLAPSIBLE CONE DISPENSERS Filed Sept. 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet l ANDREWCHAPPORY .Z' g- Z AGENT Jan. 21, 1964 A. CHAPPORY 3,118,565

COLLAPSIBLE coma: DISPENSERS Filed Sept. 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ffquj INVENTOR.

F E 4 ANDREW CHAPPORY BY ,,J J

AGE NT Jan. 21, 1964 A. CHAPPORY 3,118,565

COLLAPSIBLE CONE DISPENSERS Filed Sept. 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR.

BY ANDREW CHAPPORY IQ- AGENT Jan. 21, 1964 A. CHAPPORY 3,118,565

COLLAPSIBLE CONE DISPENSERS Filed Sept. 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR.

ANDREW CHAPPORY AGENT United States Patent 3,118,565 CGLLAPSIBLE CONEDHSPENSERS Andrew Chappory, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignor to National BiscuitCompany, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Sept. 10, 1952, Ser. No.222,593 Ciaims. (Cl. 221-92) My invention relates generally todispensers and to improvements in dispensing devices for storingunfilled ice cream cups and cones. More particularly, my inventionrelates to an economically manufactured collapsible dispenser formed ofwire rod in which a plurality of stacks of nested cups and cones areenclosed in a tubular plastic bag for successive withdrawal at the lowerends of the stacks.

In order to distribute and sell individual pastry cups and cones toretail outlets such as ice cream soda fountains, snack bars, andluncheonettes, the large commercial cone bakery is faced with thegeneral problem of supplying its customers with cone dispensers to storethe cups and cones for point-of-sale dispensing. One of the particularproblems which causes inconvenience in a large cone bakery is conestorage and shipping of the dispensers to its agents and retail outlets.

The present invention is intended to obviate this problem and otherdifliculties and, to this end, contemplates an attractive cup and conedispenser which, when empty, may be easily collapsed into asubstantially flat condition for stacking and storing either in theagency warehouse or during shipping thereto. Means are provided,therefore, whereby the component parts may be novelly constructed andassembled in such substantial manner that long periods of heavy use,including frequent collapsing and erecting, will not damage theirstructure or cause excessive wear in the moving parts.

It is, therefore, one of the main objects of the invention to provide acollapsible device for one-at-a-time dispensing of pastry cones and cupswhich device is simple in construction, yet possesses great strength andrigidity, is inexpensive to manufacture, and attractive in appearance.

Another important object is to provide a dispenser which may be easilyexpanded from a flat, collapsed condition to an erect condition wherebygreat savings in shipping and storage space may be effected.

A further object is to provide a dispenser for ice cream cones and cupswhich may be easily assembled and erected at the point of sale or usagewithout the need for pliers, wrenches or other hand tools.

Still another important object is to provide a dispenser which can beutilized in conjunction with nested cups and cones pre-packaged inflexible polyethylene bags whereby the pastry cones and cups may be keptdry and crisp from the lowermost cone in the stack to the uppermostcone.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention has been shown merely by wayof example and in preferred form, but obviously many modifications andvariations may be made therein and in its mode of application which willstill be comprised within its spirit. It is to be understood, therefore,that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment,except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view in elevation of a preferred embodiment of my icecream cone dispenser;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the dispenser shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in rear elevation show- Edidfih PatentedJan. 21, 1964 ing details of construction as viewed from the line 5-5 ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged horizontal section on the line 6-6 of FIG. 1,showing details of construction of the cone support and dispenser;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view in sectional elevation taken on the line7-7 of FIG. '6;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the component parts of my ice cream conedispenser prior to assembly and erection; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a cone-filled plastic bag for use withthe collapsible cone dispenser illustrated and described herein.

In the drawings in which like numbers of reference indicate like partsin all the figures, a base plate 1 (FIGS. 6 and 7) of rectangular formis preferably constructed of sheet metal and provided with punched-outholes 2 for withdrawing cones and cuplets when the dispenser is loaded.The four sides of the base plate 1 are formed with flanges 3 in order toprovide rigidity and anchorage for attachment, preferably by spotwelding, of a pair of metal hinges 4. The base plate 1 is swingablyattached by means of the hinges 4 to a back plate 5 of sheet metal,rectangular in shape and having a width extensive with that of the baseplate. The holes 2 which serve as cone passages, are preferably four innumber and disposed in the four quadrants of the base plate. Thediameters of the cone passages may be all of identical size or a varietyof hole diameters may be formed in the base plate to adapt the dispenserto various sizes of cones and cuplets. All of the cone passages,however, are substantially larger than the diameter of the conesintended to pass therethrough, and means for one-at-a-time withdrawal isprovided by rubber tongues 6. To furnish support for a four-columndispenser, 16 tongues, each substantial-1y rectangular in shape, andpreferably of flexible sheet rubber, are individually secured by rivets7 to the base plate 1. The rubber tongues are disposed about the fourquadrants of each hole 2 (as best seen in FIG. 6) in a manner in which adiagonal corner of each tongue 6 projects into the circular opening ofthe base plate, thus providing maximum resiliency during the conewithdrawal operation.

To support the cone dispensing frame, there is provided a pair of spacedhorizontal support rods 8 and 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2) formed of heavy steelwire secured to the back plate 5 by spot welding. Each of the outerextremities of the support rods 8-10 is formed with a hook-shaped loop11 (see FIG. 6), which serve as pivotal mountings for left and righthand swingable side frames 12 and 13, respectively. Each of the frames12, 13 comprises an identical rectangular loop 14 of extra-heavy gaugesteel wire rod, the terminals of which are brazed together. Each of theside frames 12 and 13 is made rigid by a center rod 15 of light gaugesteel Wire which is spot welded medially to the top and bottom rods ofeach rectangular loop 14. Additional strengthening of the side frames isprovided by spaced horizontal cross pieces 16 and 17 of light gaugesteel wire, spot-welded to the center rod 15 and extending across to theleft and right hand upright of the rectangular loop 14.

Connecting the side frames 12 and 13, there is provided a top cross bar20 (see FIG. 3) of heavy gauge Wire rod forming the top edge of a backframe 21. The top cross bar 2%) of the back frame is looped about theupright rods 14 of each side frame 12-13 forming a pivotal mountingthereon.

To support the top cross bar 20 of the back frame there is provided aback center rod 22 of heavy gauge wire rod spot welded at its lowerextremity (FIG. 7) to the horizontal support rods 8-10 of the back plate5. The

center rod 22 extends upwardly to the top cross bar to which it is spotwelded. Horizontal bracing is provided by two spaced cross pieces 2324of lighter gauge wire rods, spot welded to the center rod 22. andforming a loop at the left and right hand extremities around the uprightrods 14 of each side frame 12 and 13. The loops formed by the lowercross piece 23 are disposed below the side frame cross pieces 16 (FIG.2) and the loops formed by the upper cross pieces 24 are disposed abovethe side frame cross pieces 17 in order to prevent .vertical shifting ofthe side frames upwardly or downwardly. The wire loops thus formedprovide hinges for the side frames 12 and 13 permitting them to swingfrom a collapsed position, as in FIG. 8, to an expended condition withthe side frames perpendicular to the back frame as in FIG. 2.

7 To enclose the dispenser once it has been loaded with cones and/orcuplets, there is provided a wire gate 25 which comprises a suitablelength of heavy gauge wire rod formed into a U-shaped frame 26. Each ofthe wire rod terminals at the open side of the frame 26 is looped aboutthe upright rod 14 of the right hand side frame 13, forming hinges 28(FIG. 6) for swinging the gate 25. Cross bracing for strengthening thegate 25 is provided by spaced cross pieces 30 and 31, each of which isspot welded to the center rod 27 (see FIG. 1). The left hand terminalsof the cross pieces are spot welded to the rod 26 of the gate frame, andat their right hand terminals a loop is formed about the upright rod 14of the right hand side frame 13 to provide additional hinge support. Agate clip 32 of resilient sheet metal (FIGS. 1 and 2) is brazed to theleft hand upright rod 26 of the gate to secure it, when closed, to theleft hand side frame 12.

At the front of the dispenser (as best seen in FIG. 1) there is provideda top and bottom link bar 33 and 34, respectively, for linking the leftand right hand frames 12 and 13. Both of the link bars are looped attheir opposite terminals about the uprights 14 to form a hinge. In orderto prevent the link bars from sliding vertically on the uprights 14, anupper pair of J-shaped hooks 35, formed from short pieces of wire rod,and a similar lower pair 36, are secured by spot welding to the rods 14of the side frames 12 and 13.

The dispenser structure, as above described, thus comprises four panelframes hinged to each other along their longitudinal sides, forming aclosed parallelogram when only partially expanded. The dispenser may beexpanded from a collapsed, substantially fiat condition (see FIG. 8) toa fully rectangular structure, having a comformation as shown in FIG. 6.

The base plate 1, when swung upwardly on its hinges 4 into the expandeddispenser structure is adapted to fit snugly within the panel frames andthus serves to lock the swingable frames about it in said rectangularconformation. To lock the base plate securely, there is provided a,U-shaped clip 37 of resilient metal spot-welded to the front flange 3thereof. A rectangular shape bottom plate 38, formed of sheet metal andprovided with a resilient locking lip 40 is secured by hinges 41 (seeFIG. 5) to the back plate 5. Whenever the dispenser is not being usedfor a substantial period of time, the bottom plate 38 may be swungupwardly and locked beneath the base plate to retain the freshness andcrisp condition of the cones.

After the cone dispenser has been assembled, it may be mounted on asupport stand 42 (FIGS. 1 and 2) which, in its unassembled form,comprises a heavy metal rod bent to form a rectangular base 43 (FIG. 8)the terminals of which are upwardly bent to form a double prong 44. Tokeep the terminals from spreading apart, there is provided a metal lug45 consisting of a short piece of wire rod spot welded across the tworods at the base of the prongs 44. For attaching the cone dispenser tothe rectangular base 43 there is provided a bracket holder 46 of sheetmetal spot-welded to the rear of the back Procedure for Assembling Toerect the dispenser from its collapsed condition as in FIG. 8 to itsfully assembled condition as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the support stand42 is first assembled by placing the open end of the tubular upright 50over the double prongs 44 of the rectangular base 43, inserting theprongs upward until the end of the tube rests on the lug 4-5. Thecollapsed panels of the dispenser cage are then expanded to asubstantially rectangular position and the hinged base plate 1 is swunghorizontally into registration with the lower end of the cage in whichit will lock the panels rigidly in rectangular conformation. The bottomplate 33 is then swung upward to close the bottom of the cage during thecone loading operation. The dispenser cage is then mounted on the stand43 by inserting the bracket 47 of the tubular upright 54 into thebracket holder 46. The Wire gate 25 may then be swung open and thecone-filled bag 51 containing 4 stacks of cones 53 may then be insertedinto the cage. The excess material of the bag is folded backsufiiciently to clear the bottom row of cones for dispensing, holdingthe bag tight at the bottom to avoid spilling the cones, and placing theopen end of the bag over the rubber tongues 6 of the base 1.

The wire gate 25 may then be closed and the bottom plate 38 may be swungopen slowly to allow the cones to drop into dispensing position. Thepolyethylene bag 51 protects the cones against dirt and dampness; thereis no exposure of the cones to air, and no breakage in the handling ofthe cones. The separator 52 divides the conefilled bag 51 into fourstacks, the cones or cups of which usually have nesting rings to preventsticking of the cones together. The nesting rings also cooperate withthe rubber tongues 6, each quadrant group of tongues being adapted tofrictionally engage and support a stack of cones, or to be moved out ofthe path of the cones to permit one-at-atime removal of a cone from thedispenser.

By the above described invention, a lightweight collapsible dispenserhas been provided for the storage and point-of-sale dispensing ofunfilled pastry cones and cups. It is characterized by its exceptionalstrength and rigidity when in its erected form and by its relativecompactness when in its collapsed state. It is contemplated that variousrelative changes may be made in the general design and structuraldetails of the dispenser shown in the drawings but with the provisionthat such changes may come within the scope of the appended claims; andwhile the invention has been set forth with particular reference topastry cones and cups, it is, of course, adaptable for use with otherproducts to which it readily lends itself and the environment in whichit was described is not to be considered as a limitation if its scope.

What is claimed is:

l. A collapsible cone dispenser for unfilled pastry cones and cupscomprising:

a pair of generally rectangular relatively rigid perforated framemembers of substantially like configuration which define the sides ofsaid dispenser;

a generally rectangular relatively rigid back frame of configurationsubstantially like said side frame members;

means pivotally connecting the longitudinal sides of said back frame toeach of said adjacent side frame members;

link means pivotally connecting the free longitudinal sides of said sideframes forming a wire frame structure expandable from a first collapsedcondition to a generally rectangular conformation;

and cone dispensing means swingably attached to the lowermost end of oneof said frame members to support nested cone stacks thereon and provideone-ata-time release of cones from said stacks.

2. A collapsible cone dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said conedispensing means is adapted to maintain the rectangular conformation ofsaid wire frame structure.

3. A collapsible cone dispenser according to claim 2, wherein said conedispensing means comprises a rectangular plate pivotally attached tosaid back frame and swinga-ble thereon to a position disposed generallyperpendicular relative to the respective planes of said back frame andsaid side frame members.

4. A collapsible cone dispenser according to claim 2, wherein said conedispensing means comprises a freely pivotally supported rectangularplate having a flanged rim latchable within the lower end of saidexpanded wire frame structure to lock the same in rectangularconformation.

5. A collapsible cone dispensed according to claim 2, including verticalsupport means comprising a bracket member attachable to the back frameof said dispenser, said member being engageable with a wall bracket orwith a counter stand to support the dispenser in its cone dispensingposition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,633,983 Dawson et a1. June 28, 1927 2,019,877 Thomas Nov. 5, 19352,339,383 Davidson Jan. 18, 1944 2,359,337 Turek Oct. 3, 1944 2,529,267Sloane Nov. 7, 1950 3,043,440 Berlin July 10, 1962

1. A COLLAPSIBLE CONE DISPENSER FOR UNFILLED PASTRY CONES AND CUPSCOMPRISING: A PAIR OF GENERALLY RECTANGULAR RELATIVELY RIGID PERFORATEDFRAME MEMBERS OF SUBSTANTIALLY LIKE CONFIGURATION WHICH DEFINE THE SIDESOF SAID DISPENSER; A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR RELATIVELY RIGID BACK FRAMEOF CONFIGURATION SUBSTANTIALLY LIKE SAID SIDE FRAME MEMBERS; MEANSPIVOTALLY CONNECTING THE LONGITUDINAL SIDES OF SAID BACK FRAME TO EACHOF SAID ADJACENT SIDE FRAME MEMBERS; LINK MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING THEFREE LONGITUDINAL SIDES OF SAID SIDE FRAMES FORMING A WIRE FRAMESTRUCTURE EXPANDABLE FROM A FIRST COLLAPSED CONDITION TO A GENERALLYRECTANGULAR CONFORMATION; AND CONE DISPENSING MEANS SWINGABLY ATTACHEDTO THE LOWERMOST END OF ONE OF SAID FRAME MEMBERS TO SUPPORT NESTED CONESTACKS THEREON AND PROVIDE ONE-ATA-TIME RELEASE OF CONES FROM SAIDSTACKS.